Dear Countrymen,
I would have liked to visit you in recent months, but I couldn’t due to COVID-19. I hope that in the coming months, I would be able to visit you.
I must tell you that whenever I visit other countries, especially where there are Maltese and Gozitans, it’s as if I’m visiting not just another country, but a country where my fellow countrymen are living. It’s as if I’m visiting someone belonging to my family – not necessarily my immediate family but part of the Maltese and Gozitan family.
Because wherever we are; and there are Maltese and Gozitans living in the rest of the world as much as there are of them living in our islands; it’s important that we keep in touch with each other, it’s important that we strengthen our ties. And we can love our country while at the same time, be part of the society where we are living.
In a world where so many people are mixing with each other, travelling to different countries, there is more of a chance for conflicts to happen. But at the same time, if we really learn to live together and to make an effort to learn how to live together and respect each other, we can form part of the human family who lives on this planet.
Most of the challenges that we have can only be faced if we face them together. Not become each other’s enemies, but facing them together and to work for the common good.
I really wish you well for the year 2021.
Evarist Bartolo
